Over the years Ive been keeping track of a few developers that have a great engine, design, & game execution.

Besides Matrix which I believe is ranked #1 as a Indie developer

The others are as follows:

Jeff Lapkoff Games (Formerly Incredible Simulations). Their titles Defend the Alamo 1.0, & Custer's Last Command 1.0 brought this small indie gamer to my desktop and and many others. Their design of each title is simple, historically accurate and highly addictive. This combination is overhelming.

Currently released is Defend the Alamo 2.0 (Recommend Highly) and Custers Last Command (Very Additive and excellent replayability)

The next developer I watched with eagerness. They have not yet developed any titles but their intended design and eye candy catches my attention. They are Walker Boy Studios and their current title 'Civil War: War Between The States' sounds like it cant loose. Civil War War between the states puts you in the drivers seat. Take a look at the intended features of this title

In the year of 1861 the last armies of the Northern states, positioned in the recently seceded South Carolina were unremittingly fired upon and destroyed. Fort Sumter was the beginning of what has become remembered as one of the bloodiest wars ever to be fought on the shores of America and what is remembered as the War Between the States.

As you assume the position of the commander-in-chief you will be given full control of the armies of the North or that of the South. As commanding officer you will lead your men in combat across the vast and beautiful terrains of the Eastern United States. The objectives of such a wide spread war are left to you to devise and execute however you see fit. Thus into your hands lie the fragile future of the not so United States of America…

Civil War: War Between the States is an exciting new RTS styled war game that brings to life the struggles, the misfortunes and the commitment that unveil them selves in war. With the option to play one of 4 different ways ranging from reenacting some the most historic battles of any time to taking control of the war at its very beginning you are sure to be captivated and amazed by the limitless possibilities that will bring you the closest to a time that tore the country of the United States apart. A time where families were shattered and brother fought against brother for so dividing a cause, that there was no middle ground.

War Between the States is brought to life in an astounding 3D environment true to scale of the United States. Covered with luscious forests and roughed mountainous terrains you’ll have no time to waste implementing your plans, setting your defenses, marching your troops into position and preparing yourself for the battle of a lifetime. With over 70 unique units whose abilities and skills are determined by the experiences they undergo, throughout the course of the war, every skirmish, every battle or all out engagement will have an effect on how your men will react, how well they will fight and overall, if they will have the courage to face the enemy shoulder to shoulder, with bayonets armed and march forward into uncertain victory.

By amassing impressive armies of varying skills, securing supply routes across wore torn terrains, battling fleets of ironclads on the open ocean and maneuvering troops into key strategic positions truly means you have graced the bloodstained battlefields of the Civil War.

All of the features in War Between the States have been designed to provide you with the most complete and comprehensive set of tools enabling you to wage a war of truly epic proportions. Below is a brief list of some of the features found in Civil War: War Between the States.

Game Types o Single o Multiplayer o Engagements § Reenact 7 of the most famous battles from the civil war. o Foray § All out war between two armies with limitless supplies and no rules. “Death Match” o State Campaign § Fight for control of individual or multiple states. o Civil War § Do battle across the entire United States where the only limit may be you. § Choose between the 5 major years of the war as a starting point. § Take command of literally thousands of troops spread across the countryside. § Transport Troops across the open country and choppy waters of the ocean with your powerful Trains and sturdy transport Ships.

Unit Types o Over 70 Unique Infantry Units o Amass fleets of Ironclads and Frigates and send them storming across the ocean o Pound your enemy into submission with a full barrage of heavy and light Mortars and Cannons. o Race across the open prairies with your Calvary § Each having the ability to Mount and Dismount from their horse allowing you to use these Units for endless defensive and offensive maneuvers. Real time deformation of the terrain o Impact craters left from exploding cannon ball shells o Endless amounts of sand bagged and log built trenches constructed for defensive tactics SME (Strategy Map Editor) o Design your plans for war and even print them out or upload and share them with others on the internet

Experience driven Units o The more a Unit is engaged in an activity the better the Units will become at that particular task o Your Units have the ability to increase in speed, endurance, firing, digging trenches and much more Endless possibilities for play o With such a vast terrain, numerous directions to plan attacks and ever changing set of values for the Units the outcome of the game can truly never be the same.

History rewrite o Records and writes out a historical paper on all major events from a small skirmish to an all out battle. The rewrite will include all information on who was in charge, the size of the armies, the length of the battles, wounded, where it took place and much, much, more.

Bridge Building o If you men come across a river don’t worry, just build a sturdy pontoon bridge and start sending your units and supplies across.

Economy o With such an enormous battlefield and high number of towns and cities you don’t have to worry about keeping the little villagers busy. The towns themselves represent the number of supplies, recruits, moral and more. It may only be a small dirty little town, but it’s your small dirty little town and each one is going to make a difference in the long run so setting up defenses and protecting it are going to be important. o With the possibility to produce new recruits from each individual town or to limit the production to only the main three cities in each state you can quickly produce men for an all out assault or just a quick defense.

Seasonal Weather patterns

Music o Become completely immersed in your experience with true musical scores composed during this emotional era for a nation.

However due to the lack of updates, broken forums, lost community and amazingly long production time... this title remains in the dark. All hopes remain that the title will return.

Amoung the others I have noticied are Battlefront.com, HPS Simulations, however I only played a few of their titles. The types of titles that interest me need to offer both campaign and tactical based strategy with high replayability.

How come only small game developers make classic style wargames?You will never see a company like Relic(creator of Company of Heroes) make a computer remake of a wargame like World in Flames for example.

It's kinda sad that everyone wants those RTS games.It's not like half the people who buy these games have the machine to run these fancy game engines....

I don't even play company of heroes anymore but I'm still playing SPWAW,Panzer Campaigns,and TOAWIII

How come only small game developers make classic style wargames?You will never see a company like Relic(creator of Company of Heroes) make a computer remake of a wargame like World in Flames for example.

Because they have only a fraction (I'm guessing we are talking two orders of magnitude in many cases) of the sales and, even accounting for much smaller development costs (and maybe multiple titles), much less profit.

quote:

It's kinda sad that everyone wants those RTS games.It's not like half the people who buy these games have the machine to run these fancy game engines....

Actually, I'm rather glad they do. If big developers were churning out attempted 'serious' wargames instead they would inevitably be 'dumbed down', while the existence of such a market would mean the likes of Matrix and Battlefront would struggle to survive. Those games can be fun, too.. I really enjoyed both CoH and World in Conflict. Not sure about your comment on system specs either; both of those games run perfectly acceptably on aging and low spec (within reason) systems as long as you are sensible with graphic options. It's only those in the "must have 50 fps with everything maxed" club - who need to upgrade every six months.

I have Custers Last Command 2 and really enjoy it. It reminds me allot of Age of Rifles. I think Matrix should join forces with him to get his games out faster, with the Custer engine it would be like having a new Age of Rifles. I've been waiting a while for the Rorkes Drift game but last time Mr. Lapkoff emailed me(early this year) he said he was working on other stuff and it will be delayed until he can get back to it :(.

As for the Walker Brothers game...I wouldn't hold my breath. I have their game and this other game on my list of titles been waiting the longest for.....They Came From Hollywood. http://www.theycamefromhollywood.com/

I played Jeff Lapkoff's games years ago--Defend the Alamo, Custer's Last Command, and Zulu War! I remember Jeff as being very conscientious. I had a problem with Zulu War!, phoned him about it, and he was most sincere in his efforts to correct it. That is one of the fondest memories in my recollections of gaming personalities.

That Civil War game by Walker Boy Studios looks good. I hope it gets released soon.

How come only small game developers make classic style wargames?You will never see a company like Relic(creator of Company of Heroes) make a computer remake of a wargame like World in Flames for example.

It's kinda sad that everyone wants those RTS games.It's not like half the people who buy these games have the machine to run these fancy game engines....

I don't even play company of heroes anymore but I'm still playing SPWAW,Panzer Campaigns,and TOAWIII

I guess my question is: does it really matter? If someone is designing them I don't care if it is slitherine or SSI or some small obscure company that has 1 or 2 games. All that matters is that someone is buying the rights for them and putting them on pc. How awesome would it be if you were to see some AH games converted to pc? Am I the only person in here that wonders that? Or maybe some more of the Eagle games that were too costly for them to stay in business. I really hope we see a future in these type of games whether it be a big company or small. I don't care, just make them, lol.